Contents

Areas of Interest

These are some of my interests and areas of expertise, feel free to ask me about them.

Programming

Java (Spring Framework, Hibernate, Maven)

JavaScript (jQuery, jQuery UI, Sencha ExtJS)

Python

PHP (CakePHP)

MySQL

Big Data Technologies (would love to learn more)

Agile Methodology

Electronics

PCB Design (Eagle)

PCB Etching

Soldering

Arduino

3D Printing

I have 2.5 3D printers and it might be getting out of hand (see below for me details).

Cycling

Nothing serious, I cycle about 8km a day to get to and from the station for work

I have a hybrid bike and would be interested in learning more about repair and maintenance

Photography

I'm not really into professional photography with DSLRs or anything, I just like playing with cameras.

I would be interested in projects involving cameras attached to multirotors or balloons.

I have a timelapse camera which is a small point and shoot running the custom CHDK firmware and I can bring it along to the space/events if required. Here is a timelapse I recorded of pet gerbils.

Computers

Built a Steambox in early 2014 based on the Raven RVZ01 case.

Comfortable working with Windows/Linux/OS X

Built and repaired computers in the past

Podcasts

Security Now Focused mainly on computer/Internet security but Steve Gibson is a great host and you'll probably enjoy it if you have an interest in computer science. Steve also writes all of his software in assembly language.

Honor Harrington Series I'm currently listening to book 10 (HH10 War of Honor) and I'm loving the series so far. I've never really read fiction, let alone any science fiction but I've really got into this series and would highly recommend it.

YouTube - I subscribe to many different people on YouTube, here are a few that you might find interesting.

EEVblog Dave Jones (aka "That Crazy Aussie Bloke") covers a wide range of electronics topics and tears down various different bits of kit.

Mike's Electric Stuff Similar topics to the EEVblog but Mike is from the UK and covers a lot of his own projects.

Photonicinduction He might seem totally insane if you watch a few of the things he does (such as vacuum up ignited petrol with a Dyson in his garden) but he is a smart guy who likes to play with high voltage/high current.

Matthias Wandel A guy with some very create and innovative ideas when it comes to woodworking and tools, just watch a few of his videos.

Steve Ramsey Woodworking projects, probably quite a lot of which can be accomplished with the materials and tools we have at the space, targeted more towards the general public.

Julian Ilett Solar power experiments and general electronics tinkering.

bionerd23 Check out some of her Chernobyl exploration videos, interesting stuff.

Work In Progress

This list contains the stuff I'm actively working or plan to work on in the near future. If I'm at the space you'll probably find me involved with one or more of these. Please come and find me or contact me if you're interested in getting involved with any of these.

I noticed there was quite a surplus of old floppy disk drives lying around the space so I decided to put them to good use. After seeing various versions of floppy drive music on YouTube I decided to create my own. Below is a video of mine in action playing Daft Punk's Aerodynamic. I took it along to the UK Maker Faire 2013 in Newcastle and it prove quite popular.

Squirrel Feeder

I found some plans for a squirrel feeder online and decided to build one.

Home heating control and temperature monitor

Work in progress, a Raspberry Pi with a custom Arduino expansion board that can read from 5 Dallas DS18B20 sensors and turn on the heating via a relay.

Future Projects

Build a nice enclosure/mounting for the Floppy Drive Orchestra with some flash LEDs.

Run a small workshop on a PCB design package (Eagle/KiCAD) involving creating custom parts through to printing the design and etching.

3D Printers

This is #20 in the original Indiegogo project and I started working on it in August 2011. It's not far off completion but I haven't had the time to finish it yet.

MakerBot Thing-O-Matic (Printer #1)

Needs some TLC to get it back up and running reliably.

It printed a full set of RepRap Wallace parts in red ABS without too much trouble so it's quite a capable printer. These set of parts were for a member of Birmingham Hackapace (fizzPOP), I'm not sure if it's been completed yet.